THIS IS PART FOUR OF A FIVE-PART EDITORIAL SERIES.
*A full warning about content that may be viewed as offensive, triggering and/or otherwise distasteful is being provided now. This article will discuss acts of rape, forced abortion, sterilization, murder, torture, forced labor and genocide. This writing is meant to help give the Uighur people a voice, and to show that they are being thought about, cared about and fought for in as many ways as possible. The Uighur people deserve their lives, their families, their culture and the one thing that we all hold dear: their freedom. *
As part of their campaign to quell notions of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has banned many religious and lifestyles practices for Muslims practices. These restrictions have included, “banning veils and beards, cracking down on Quran study groups, and preventing Muslim officials from fasting for Ramadan.” The CCP has also noted several behaviors to watch out for among the Uighur people. If caught, people can land inside of a so-called “re-education” camp. Seemingly innocent offenses such as, “quitting smoking or buying a tent” are enough to get you arrested and thrown into a “re-education camp.” This loose set of rules for the Uighurs to follow is why so many of them are going into these camps and not seen or heard from for years on end.
The infrastructure for these camps is so massive that many wonder how they were set up so quickly. Over the span of three years, some “268 newly built compounds” have been built as well as the massive transformation of former buildings into new camps. These facilities have been documented by satellite photos and the small amount of video evidence that has come from the region. These re-education camps have ramped up in size and scale, and many of them have seen millions of square feet added to their factorial sections.
These re-education camps are often described by former prisoners as being relatively modern, yet prisoners claim they spent “23 hours a day in their cells, share one toilet, and were under constant surveillance.” Former prisoners, mostly Kazakhs rather than Uighurs, who are also oppressed alongside other Muslim minorities in the region, described hours of watching propaganda, forced exercise, poor health conditions, lack of visuals outside of their cells, solitary confinement, overcrowding, beatings and inadequate food. Mistreatment from guards, a lack of proper trial and jury, as well as severe restrictions on visits and conversations with family members are also a common theme. Often after being released from these prisons, the individuals who speak out against them are forced to eliminate contact with family members or the CCP will punish their family.
It is again important to note that the CCP has denied all accusations levied against them and claimed that the individuals who are leading the charges are nothing more than actors attempting to spread anti-Chinese propaganda. The CCP has also claimed that they have released people inside the camps after completion of their “education” and “deradicalization.” Once again, however, these claims do not match up with the details of the situation. First and foremost is the continued refusal to deny journalists and any video/photography from the region. When journalists are allowed to go to these regions, they often describe the streets as “empty” and that individuals in the streets do not even greet each other.
These re-education camps are a frightening sign of how the Uighurs are treated, but they also resemble the worst part about this situation. The CCP is actively trying to erase Uighur culture and ideas and is removing members that matter to Uighur society. Imams, teachers, doctors and politicians hold a great deal of cultural power. All of which are inside of these re-education camps and are clearly marked as being the most dangerous by the CCP. If you look at these camps and the outside influences on the rest of the Uighur population, it becomes increasingly clear what this all amounts to in the totality of the circumstances: genocide.
Forced Population Control:
I wish that the last section could be the end of this story but unfortunately, it continues. A terrifying element in this is that the CCP is also forcing population control on the Uighur people. This includes forced abortions, sterilization and even forced marriages to Han Chinese men. The accounts of what is happening are horrifying, and the stories around it are enough to make you sick to your stomach. But again, what is happening to these people must be discussed and shared in all of its horror.
Forced sterilization is one of the most horrific elements of this part of the story. As discussed in part three of this series, Tursunay Ziyawudun was forced to have her uterus removed due to the pain she suffered in the camps. Outside of the camps, however, things are not much better for Uighur women. Many women inside of Xinjiang report that they have been forced to be sterilized either without consent or through threats of sending them and/or their families to camps.
One of these stories is that of Zumrat Duwat. She was arrested for having one too many children and then claims she was sterilized by the CCP in order to prevent her from getting pregnant again. The numbers from the region are horrific with 80 percent of all IUDs implanted in China taking place in Xinjiang, which only makes up 1.8 percent of the total Chinese population. The worst part of this is that the CCP doesn’t even deny that there has been a high spike in women getting IUDs but does claim that it is not forced sterilization. The CCP claims that thanks to its re-education programs, Uighur women are now opting to get IUDs themselves. They have even gone as far as praising them in a Twitter post which was removed, but still horrific that it was even posted in the first place.
The second part of this is that women such as Gulzira Mogdyn and Ruqiy Perhat discussed how Uighur women were forced to have unwanted abortions inside of the camps. This, in combination with Zumrat Duwat being imprisoned for having more than one child, has placed Uighur women in a constant state of fear and are unable to have the number of children that they desire. Larger reports of women forced to have abortions as well are rumored, but hard to prove as the government again restricts journalists access to not only the camps, but the region.
A third and final part of this puzzle is that the CCP is forcing Uighur girls to marry Han Chinese men. This part of the equation shakes me to the core, mostly because the nature of it is one of eugenics. The CCP has offered to pay Han Chinese men to move to Xinjiang in order to marry Uighur women. They have also threatened to arrest Uighur women or their families if they do not comply. Finally, large swaths of Uighur men were arrested, reducing the pool of male Uighurs for young girls to marry. This is a huge act of genocide as the CCP attempts to breed out the Uighur lineage and to replace it with their own cultural group in the region.
All these factors in combination have caused the birth rate in the region to plummet in a short amount of time. This is a huge alarm for the Uighurs as they continue to lose a key element to their culture. Mix in the fact that Uighur women are not allowed to practice religious shows of devotion and the banning of Uighur names and you have an entire generation of Uighur children who are being stripped of their identity, culture and people right before your very eyes.
The final part of this editorial series will focus on the indoctrination and organ harvesting of the Uighur people. To catch up on this series, you can read part one here, part two here and part three here. Read The Lamron in the following weeks to stay informed on the devastating events occurring in China.